A few months ago, when I turned 53, my father (82 years old, healthy and handsome) asked me how I felt about growing older.

It was a long conversation I will never forget, and I would like to share with you the part concerning "professional obsolescence."

My Dad knows how much I enjoy translating, and he was a bit worried that I might be losing ground among the ever-increasing competition and the "fresh knowledge" of newly graduated colleagues.

Today, as I read this article, I was nicely surprised at the strong similarity between its contents and my answer to Dad's question.

THE BEAUTY OF AGING
Adapted from The Woman’s Book of Spirit, by Susan Patton Thoele (Conari Press, 2006).

Those who choose to look at what they have gained from advancing years, rather than what they lose, generally have a lustrous heart and a gleam in their eye. Ideally, the experiences accrued throughout the years bring increased wisdom and instill an inner security that allows us to speak our truth fearlessly and act from an unshakeable sense of integrity. Here is a great quote:

Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
--Dorothy Sayers

This month, when I turn 57, I'll read this again. My 85-year-old father (healthy and handsome) has the same concerns, since he has 3 college degrees that are worthless in today's market. I tell him, quoting a dear friend with rheumatoid arthritis: "As long as I have my memory, some eyesight, and the use of at least one finger, I can make a life." As a translator, I change that to: "I can make a career."

Our most valuable asset by far is our memory. And you and I have so much more of that than our "newly graduated colleagues"!

Thanks for your thoughts and for the quote from Dorothy Sayers, one of my favorite authors.

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

The general mental activity, intellectual exercise, and high degree of concentration that translation requires bodes well for a translator having and maintaining a good memory well into the later years. By continuing to draw on it in your work as a translator, you probably will not lose your hard-earned intellectual abilities born of much experience. If you use it you won't lose it!

I'm not a doctor, but 3600 mg of fish oil (fish is considered "brain food") everyday might help, too, not to mention its other benefits. You can take a multi-vitamin with lutein (good for the eyesight). And I wish I had time to get more physical exercise (important, too).

Anyway, nobody's gonna force this Baby Boom Generation translator into "mandatory retirement" to make way for "young blood" any time soon! This is one of the best aspects about being a freelance writer/translator. As far as careers go, not that much age discimination (no one has to know your age).

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

I, an only son, lost my Mom when I was 12, my Dad when I was 18, so I cannot share these heartrending experiences of listening to them......but I am 61, about to be a grand-dad of twins, married fro the 3rd time in my life, with two beauuuuutiful children of 31 and 12 years respectively, the offsprings of two different marriages, so I think I've left my imprints in life. And I feel every day more accomplished and fully prepared - after 30 years of a professional career in my native country, Argentina, as Banker and lawyer and "de facto" translator and interpreter- to pound upon life and make it mine...in Spanish, "quien me quita lo bailado".

So, MEW, thank you for the opportunity to share with you and other prozian friends at a distance these thoughts, feelings and heartfelt wishes for a long lasting series of successes and accomplishments, both professional as well as personal.

We, the baby boomer Lone Rangers. still ride and will continue to ride again every time we are asked to do so!!!!!

Cheers,

Miguel.-

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

xxxsofiabluNetherlands Local time: 22:53

Great wines

Sep 3, 2006

Hello everybody!

I'm forty, my fifteen years old daughter refers to me as to an "old lady" (well, she's just a brat, even if she sees herself as a sophisticated young woman), but I must confess this is my best time ever.

As a child, I felt all the powerlessness of being a little girl; as a teenager, I felt "mercy of a rude stream". The twenties bursted with new, exciting things - university studies, first translation jobs, the baby. In my thirties, I had to rethink the priorities in my life and wished a completely new twist.

And now here I am, trying to settle down in a new country, learning a new language, ready for my next 40, or why not, 50, 60 years to come.
I feel energetic though, more often than not, I have my blue moments. Nevertheless, I've never felt so full of enthusiasm, never bursted with so many energies. My brain still works, my experience as a translator becomes wider and deeper every day. What's more important, I know I will be learning to be a better person till my very last moment.

I come from a land of great wines - Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello di Montalcino - to name but a few. And great wines are old wines...

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

Now me, I'm actually looking forward to celebrating the big 5-0.... which I, Madame President, turn on the first day of the ATA conference in New Orleans.

So don't you think it fitting that then entire Conference be considered my birthday party????

And what a great place NOLA is for a birthday bash!!!!!

Wish you would come....

Big hugs,
msg

María Eugenia Wachtendorff wrote:

Hi, guys!

A few months ago, when I turned 53, my father (82 years old, healthy and handsome) asked me how I felt about growing older.

It was a long conversation I will never forget, and I would like to share with you the part concerning "professional obsolescence."

My Dad knows how much I enjoy translating, and he was a bit worried that I might be losing ground among the ever-increasing competition and the "fresh knowledge" of newly graduated colleagues.

Today, as I read this article, I was nicely surprised at the strong similarity between its contents and my answer to Dad's question.

THE BEAUTY OF AGING
Adapted from The Woman’s Book of Spirit, by Susan Patton Thoele (Conari Press, 2006).

Those who choose to look at what they have gained from advancing years, rather than what they lose, generally have a lustrous heart and a gleam in their eye. Ideally, the experiences accrued throughout the years bring increased wisdom and instill an inner security that allows us to speak our truth fearlessly and act from an unshakeable sense of integrity. Here is great quote:

Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
--Dorothy Sayers

There's cash in the bank and the kids have left home. That's what made people aged 57 the happiest age group in a national British survey.
The poll of 1,000 Brits didn't separate men and women.It is good news for actress Meryl Streep, Prince Charles and Bruce Springsteen. They're all 57.
Brits were asked to rate how happy they were with their lives, including their feelings about friends, family and work.
Great! said the 57-year-olds. Though the sex-life part of the survey picked mere kids in their late twenties as happiest.
The poll was done by a chain of travel agents over there called. WA Shearings the company's accompanying announcement said: “It’s surprising because we usually regard the younger years as the best.”

uote]

[Edited at 2006-09-03 18:27]

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

There's cash in the bank and the kids have left home. That's what made people aged 57 the happiest age group in a national British survey.
The poll of 1,000 Brits didn't separate men and women.It is good news for actress Meryl Streep, Prince Charles and Bruce Springsteen. They're all 57.
Brits were asked to rate how happy they were with their lives, including their feelings about friends, family and work.
Great! said the 57-year-olds. Though the sex-life part of the survey picked mere kids in their late twenties as happiest.
The poll was done by a chain of travel agents over there called. WA Shearings the company's accompanying announcement said: “It’s surprising because we usually regard the younger years as the best.”

uote]

[Edited at 2006-09-03 18:27]

Thank you for the good wishes (the big day is the 18th) and for the wonderful article! Just confirms what I've felt. Kids are gone from home but still very close to us (in heart and communication, though not geographically); my husband and I have just moved 'way out in the country and are enjoying each other more than ever; and I'm just starting my 10th year in a fabulous 2nd career. What a joy to learn, at 48, that I can start something new (translating) and be really good at it! The first 48 years were all preparation...

Cheers to all my fellow baby boomers and late bloomers, and to all the younger generation who have so much to look forward to!

[Edited at 2006-09-03 22:17]

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

…quoting a dear friend with rheumatoid arthritis: "As long as I have my memory, some eyesight, and the use of at least one finger, I can make a life." As a translator, I change that to: "I can make a career."

What a joy to learn, at 48, that I can start something new (translating) and be really good at it! The first 48 years were all preparation...

GoodWords quoted:

Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen (Published: Thursday, August 10, 2006)
There's cash in the bank and the kids have left home. That's what made people aged 57 the happiest age group in a national British survey.

Femme wrote:

Anyway, nobody's gonna force this Baby Boom Generation translator into "mandatory retirement" to make way for "young blood" any time soon! This is one of the best aspects about being a freelance writer/translator. As far as careers go, not that much age discimination (no one has to know your age).

Miguel García Uriburu wrote:

And I feel every day more accomplished and fully prepared - after 30 years of a professional career in my native country, Argentina, as Banker and lawyer and "de facto" translator and interpreter- to pound upon life and make it mine...in Spanish, "quien me quita lo bailado".

Sofiablu wrote:

I come from a land of great wines - Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello di Montalcino - to name but a few. And great wines are old wines...

Marian Greenfield wrote:

Now me, I'm actually looking forward to celebrating the big 5-0.... which I, Madame President, turn on the first day of the ATA conference in New Orleans.
So don't you think it fitting that then entire Conference be considered my birthday party????

Atenea Acevedo wrote:

MEW, thanks so much for sharing Dorothy Sayers' thoughts. More than inspirational for a younger generation.

Argonauta wrote:

Woman, you may be middle-aged, but we younger ones need gals like you to find out where the road goes.

Thank you very much, my dear friends, for corroborating my strong belief that each stage in life has its unique charms and we, as independent translators, are among the few fortunate people who can show that -as Sofiablue says- “we are like wine," i.e., the older, the better!.

Our jobs are endless sources of learning, as we were born at the very outset of technological development, were raised and are still “growing up” in a rapidly changing world that would not be possible without us translators and interpreters!

Advanced Happy Birthday Hugs to Jane and Marian – and to all those who have yet to complete the hard yet fascinating task of living a whole year of your lives this year!

María Eugenia

[Edited at 2006-09-04 00:50]

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

A few months ago, when I turned 53, my father (82 years old, healthy and handsome) asked me how I felt about growing older.

Hello Maria,
I started translating when I was 55 years old (old and depressed). I was fed up with working in a hospital all my life, and decided to go to Spain, learn Spanish and try something new. I also re-married a Spanish woman (also young and pretty). I am now over 62 (young and handsome) and never seem to stop working. I enjoy the challenge of new work and as I translate medical scientific projects, it also keeps me up to date in my field.
Being freelance gives me the freedom to enjoy life as I can, usually fit my work around my leisure activities
Good luck in your young age

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

At 76 I'm enjoying my work just as much as ever, and doing a good job (I just know that). It isn't that I really need the money (at least until my company's pension scheme folds up), and anyway almost a quarter of what I earn goes to keep this country in business. Forgive me for having a smile at those who think their 60s, 50s, and even 40s !!, is over the hill.
Oops! A mistake, I'm only 75. Maybe something is failing after all.

[Edited at 2006-09-05 08:42]

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

At 76 I'm enjoying my work just as much as ever, and doing a good job (I just know that). It isn't that I really need the money (at least until my company's pension scheme folds up), and anyway almost a quarter of what I earn goes to keep this country in business. Forgive me for having a smile at those who think their 60s, 50s, and even 40s !!, is over the hill.
Oops! A mistake, I'm only 75. Maybe something is failing after all.

[Edited at 2006-09-05 08:42]

Thank you ever so much for writing!

Getting feedback from you and other colleagues your age and above would work wonders with all of us. You have invaluable experience to share.

Would you consider starting a "Seniors Forum" here at Proz? Please give it a thought! I am sure you have lots of anecdotes to tell.

A big hug,

María Eugenia

Subject:

Comment:

The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)

PerfectIt helps deliver error-free documents. It improves consistency, ensures quality and helps to enforce style guides. It’s a powerful tool for pro users, and comes with the assurance of a 30-day money back guarantee.

Find out why Déjà Vu is today the most flexible, customizable and user-friendly tool on the market.
See the brand new features in action:
*Completely redesigned user interface
*Live Preview
*Inline spell checking
*Inline